Wednesday, August 10, 2011

SFW - in the caring business

Time again for something a bit more unusual for me - manicures that are somewhat safe for work. Since I'm working in the healthcare business, I'm not allowed to wear polish for work. At all. However, our guidelines on basic hygiene routines are a bit funny, because they state that nail polish can't be colored. Anyone who went through some kind of nursing or medical education knows that it's not the color that creates the problem, but the lacquer itself, as it easily collects bacteria in what we'd call invisible cracks and such. Generally, it's a common misconception that colored polishes hide dirt - bacteria seldom show color, so it's there whether you see it or not.

That being said, I work in an environment so crowded with bacteria that we can't really do much about it, except using endless amounts of soap and desinfectants. Also, some of us do believe that the presence of polish or not is not a huge factor, and sometimes just don't care and paint our nails anyway. I'm guilty of this. Still, the nurses of course will complain if we wear bright wham pow polish at work, so I sometimes do very subtle manicures, when I'm not doing my usual routine of one single coat of a good strengthener.

It's summer, and most of the personnel are at ease and try to relax a bit more than the rest of the year, so branching out seems like a crime not too big this time of year.

For my work shift last Sunday, I tried a new variety of my healthcare work safe manicure, with some stamping. I tried a soft blue pastel with silver shimmer, Depend 251, for the stamping bits, and the subtle holographic silver glitter topcoat Northern Lights from INM, that Cari so generously sent me a bottle of recently. Though, my nails are terribly, grossly stained and the photos didn't end up very good, so the photo below is a little censored. Don't cry now:

I know, I don't own many image plates, so I used the Konad/Fauxnad m66 again (love it!) - that blossoming cherry tree image is mindnumbingly cute! But I guess you can't really tell here.

Mission accomplished though, no one seemed to notice, no one mentioned it, so I felt like I got away with it all. Of course, this meant I had to try harder! And this time it turned out better.

While I was vacationing in the north, I met up with my dear friend Lina, and she was sweet enough to gift me a few bottles from her own stash, that she didn't like for herself. One of them was this awesome iridescent glitter, suspended in a milky pink sheer jelly with a blue flash shimmer, from Rimmel, called Pop Idol. This is how it turned out in the SFW manicure I wore to work yesterday:



But these iridescent glitters really pop out in low light:

So pretty, in a boring, normal way. m66 again, the bamboo branches, in a plain white creme, with Pop Idol over in two coats. I actually liked this! I won't go as far as saying I loved it though, since it's just not... Very colorful. But liked, especially for work, yes! And still, no one commented, so I guess I got away with it again. I'll have to try even harder next time.

Also, Pop Idol - what, or who, does that polish make you think of? Girly, bubbelgum sorta music, glamour, cotton candy, Madonna/whatever popstar from your generation? Me - this:



Swedish word of the day:
vård -noun care
It's what I do for a living.

8 comments:

  1. Very pretty! Low key stamping--I like it!

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  2. You make stamping look good !
    Pop idol...hmmm, none of the pop idols of my childhood had such great taste :P

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  3. Beautiful idea. Simple and still classy <3

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  4. They are both beautiful...but I think I like the cherry blossoms the best. Pretty shade of polish. We used to have to be low key working in the hospitals if you worked in patient care areas - but I was a lab scientist and could wear anything....that is if I could get it to last between all the hand washing and sweating in the gloves!

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  5. Lovely, delicate nails...and wonderful combinations of stamping color and base color!

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  6. Cute! I have to try something like this when I'm going back to work after my vacation. I also try to wear something tuned down to work. :)

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